Girls Night Out
by Gillian Leigh
Summary: Scully and her two best friends head to their favorite bar, and some girl talk leads to a revelation.


Title: Girls Night Out

Author: Gillian Leigh

Summary: Scully and her two best friends head to the bar, and some girl talk leads to a revelation.

Disclaimer: Nope, not even close. 

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            It was Friday night, and the restaurant was as crowded as one would expect it to be. This didn't bother the three women who occupied their usual corner booth. Much to Dana Scully's dismay, the topic of conversation settled once again on her partner. 

            "So, Dana," Polly began. "Tell us more about this partner of yours. I'm still having a very hard time believing that you've worked with a man for six years and never even so much as kissed him." She watched Scully over the rim of her glass. Raising her eyebrow, Scully tried very hard to appear nonchalant as she took a sip of her martini.

            "What's so hard to believe? We haven't." Meredith, the third Musketeer, who had been fairly quiet up to this point, watched Scully. She was also the resident mind-reader. Her eyebrows shot up and she exclaimed loudly, 

            "Dana Katherine Scully, you're sleeping with him!" Polly watched with amusement as her friend turned approximately six shades of red and hissed, 

            "Can you keep your voice down please?!" The eyes of several of the restaurant's patrons fell on their table. Meredith giggled, and Polly noted that her friend had not denied the accusation. 

            "Are you sleeping with him?" she asked in a near-whisper. Scully bit her lower lip. "You are! I can't believe you've lied to us all this time, Danes!" Polly exclaimed, her voice rising in volume again. 

            "We did...once," Scully said quietly. "Almost two months ago." Her friends' gazes urged her to continue. She sighed. 

            "Well," Meredith began. "Why only once? Was it that bad?" 

            "Oh God no... It wasn't that," Scully said, smiling. "We were in this little no-where town in Kansas. It was a little place called Kroner. We were working on a case, which was no more or less bizarre than any of the other ones I've told you about..." Polly and Meredith exchanged a knowing look. They'd been privy to many tales of their best friend's adventures on the X-Files. "There was this man, and he was madly in love with a woman he had gone to school with, and worked with, but she didn't know how he felt, and he didn't have the courage to tell her. His emotions affected the weather-- once he made it hail heart-shaped hailstones for her..." Meredith let out a little sigh. The story was weirdly romantic. Scully smiled and then continued. "And they were having their twenty-year high school reunion, which Mulder and I wound up at because we were trying to stop the down-pouring rain which was flooding the entire area. I wound up in the bathroom talking to the woman, her name is Shelia, and I was telling her that the best relationships often come from friendship. It wasn't until after I finished talking to her that I was talking about Mulder and me-- what I wanted. 

            "We were out in the parking lot, trying to get into our rental car, and the rain was falling. Mulder had locked the keys in the car, so we were trying to jimmy the lock, and I laid my hand on his arm, and the next thing I knew, we were stumbling into my motel room, soaking wet, all over each other." Polly's eyebrows went up. 

            "We barely made it to the bed..." She paused and cleared her throat, unable to fight back a small smile. "It was amazing... there's no other word to describe it. But we got scared after that. Inter-office relationships are frowned upon, if not forbidden in the Bureau, and we were sure our boss would kill us if he found out. We said that things had to stop because we were jeopardizing our jobs, but we both knew that we were scared. I still am." 

            "It's not just about work though, is it Danes?" Meredith asked. "What else are you scared about?" Scully sighed. 

            "As cliché as it sounds, I don't want our relationship to be jeopardized. We've been something more extensive than best friends but less than lovers for as long as I can remember, and I'm terrified that if we get involved, something will go wrong. I don't want to lose him," she replied, staring intently into the bottom of her martini glass.

            "Have you told him that you love him?" Meredith asked. Scully cringed. 

            "No," she replied quietly. 

            "But you do?" Polly queried, watching as 'you'll-never-break-my-tough-outer-shell' Dana Scully became more and more emotionally naked. 

            "Yes, I do," she said with a trembling sigh. 

            "Has he told you?" Polly asked. The three women locked eyes, and Scully found herself on the verge of tears as she replied, 

            "Yeah, he did...Once I thought it was the influence of the pain killers he was on in the hospital... but the second time he said it... it scared me, because I knew this was _Mulder_ talking. I knew he meant it," she said, toying with her napkin. 

            "You need to tell him, Danes. Guys don't hang around forever waiting to hear from you," Meredith said, and she and Polly simultaneously rested their hands on top of hers. Scully nodded and rose to her feet, fumbling in her wallet for money. 

            "We'll pick up the tab this time," Polly said, grinning at her friend. "As long as we get to be Maids of Honor in your wedding..." All three laughed, and Scully smiled at the two of them and whispered her thanks. 

            "I love you guys," she said, and hugged each in turn. Stepping out of the bar, Scully hailed a cab and asked for Arlington. 

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End file.
